Let Loose the Dogs, The Front Three:
Chewing the Gristle – Part III
by David Bell
Here I was thinking to get to the Secondary and then the front 3 of the defense. Swap that around. Much has been written about the starting secondary this week here at ArrowHeadOne. Yes. We have some worries there. Yes we lack experienced depth. Yes, we are questioning Murray and Amerson. On the other hand? I like what I am seeing with Tremon Smith’s play and have tentatively moved him up a notch for the corner and Watts showed us a bit what he can do mixing it up and scrambling their eggs Friday night. On the other hand? McQuay got the majority of snaps that Watts had the previous week.
Back to the topic at hand.
In Front of the ILB’s
We haven’t seen Hitchens yet put a hitch in the get along much while playing with partner ILB Reggie, tear them to rags both on the field at the same time–yet. When we do, we will be seeing that second line of defense behind a front three that features Chris Jones to the right and Allen Bailey to the left. The middle will be manned by Xavier Williams or Derrick Nnadi.
At this moment looking at game video, I do not understand what Bob Sutton was looking for with the strong-man front much of the first half. I hope we don’t see it much though.
It may be true that the run defense held Atlanta to 3.6 YPC for the game but the first two Atlanta scoring drives, the defensive line might look good one play of 3 but it seemed that run or pass defense, set up with a 7-man type front didn’t fare well nor did the defensive alignment work. What Atlanta did was use their offensive line to get an opening and there was no second level blocking needed — the hole opened, an Atlanta RB ran through it and there was no second line of defense set to stop them until they were 5 yards beyond the LoS and a corner back was up making the stop.
Maybe you have an idea of what they were working to show but it wasn’t the show pony I would want to saddle up and ride around the American Royal.
Here is what I did see, starting with Xavier Williams: he was making plays and occupying blockers. When Derrick Nnadi came in, he did the same. On passing downs neither had a great push at the QB but both were keeping blockers busy and often that was 2 defenders. This was goodness. Chris Jones is the key to rushing the QB from the essential assignments as a regular 3-4. I am not sure what name should be given to what Sutton was calling as a defensive set, so I am reserving judgment. You might call it a 3-4 over-extended.
Mostly though, what I am comfortable in stating is that Allen Bailey, Xavier Williams and Chris Jones can get after it as a threesome. We did see different looks for the front as well. This involved Speaks at least 3 or 4 times. When I look to the outside of the men with their hands in the dirt, there was one horrid play where Kpass was in for Houston and it was a pass play. Kpass was to cover and not rush. It started out okay but right beyond the LoS, the receiver got tangled with Kpass and was better and quicker to get out of the spaghetti and into the route, Kpass having been far more unbalanced, his knee hit the ground and his assigned receiver caught the pass about 12 yards down field and turned into a gain of 20+ yards. Outside once, I see Ford battling his opponent on the left, but he doesn’t keep his eye on the ball or ball carrier who cut inside. Ford sees him about 1 1/2 seconds late and the RB is beyond him and down field.
Something about the defensive setup in the first half just plain stunk. It’s true, on on that play, Ford set the edge. The front three shifted to the left but having set the edge and having the RB turn inside, it’s as if Ford was oblivious and the hands in the dirt players are no match for the speed of almost any RB in almost any situation.
I don’t know what you were thinking but I was sort of dozing out the rest of the way. As I saw it, the first half was where my interest lay and it was, at best, an unremarkable, inefficient half of football to base a story on. Still, we have two solid 3-4DE’s and have acquired two Nose Tackles. Williams has been efficient and it appears he is stepping up his play and is glad to be home and playing for his childhood team. Nnadi performed very well garnering about 50% of the snaps–for a rookie and this is how I anticipated him coming to the fore. It might take a bit of time but I believe he is a fit for the NFL and will be important among all the newcomer names that we are all talking about. Also, we’ll have depth at NT for the first time in eons.
Chris Jones is an “Alpha lot of Dog”!
I look forward to seeing him in action in 2018.
The Lay of the Land
At this moment, I have a positive view of the Williams and Nnadi. Bailey, returned to form is solid though now you might say he is getting long in the tooth for a DE. Behind that? Jarvis Jenkins, Dee Liner, Mike Purcell and Stefan Charles round out the current players on the depth chart. You pick ’em behind the first four. Dee Liner who had gotten a lot of work to this point, did not have a snap. Jenkins has been there before. Go from there.
The Chiefs did not use a standard front 3 for most of the One’s time on the field. I won’t call it a 2-4-5, a 3-4, or anything but a front 7 for all intents and purposes. And if it was intended to stop the run, I can say to Bob Sutton: STOP RIGHT THERE. LAY DOWN THE CLIPBOARD!
David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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